On England’s 2011-12 tour one of the
three Tests was cancelled because it clashed with the Indian Premier League
(IPL). In response the ECB reduced this tour from a 3-Test to a two-Test
series. Since 2000 England had always seen a Test
match scheduled in May but on this tour, again in order to avoid clashing
with the IPL, the Test matches were deferred until June. For the Sri Lankans,
this had the benefit of allowing them to play in warmer weather.

Both Test matches went to
last-over finishes, but the Sri Lankans came away delighted from each. In the
first Test Sri Lanka defending stoutly seemed to have lost to an lbw decision
off the penultimate ball before DRS detected an edge missed by the umpire and
earned a reprieve for Sri
Lanka’s last batsman; then the final ball
was snicked just short of the slips.Angelo Mathews’ wonderful innings of 160 at Headingley ranked alongside
Botham’s in 1981 as one of the most powerful game-changers seen there. England
were left batting to save the match. The last pair held out until the second-to-last
ball when a catch gave Sri
Lanka a 100-run victory and the series.

Earlier the Sri Lankans had won
both the Twenty20 and one-day international series so this stands as their
most successful tour of England.

The off-spin bowler Sachithra
Senanayake was reported for a suspected illegal bowling action during the
fourth ODI at Lord's. Senanayeke was also in the news for controversially running
out Jos Buttler at the bowler’s end in the Edgbaston ODI after he repeatedly
backed-up too far.

Unavailable:Upul Tharanga, Dammika Prasad and Niroshan Dickwella were
available only for Ireland.

Squad for the tour of Ireland
and T20 international matches announced: 23 April

Withdrawal : Thisara Perera was withdrawn because he did not receive his
travel clearance to Ireland
and was replaced by Shaminda Eranga.

One-day squad announced:13 May 2014

Test Tour party
Announced:2 June 2014.

Time between selection of limited-overs team and departure
from Sri Lanka

9 days

(23 April to 2 May)

Travel

ColomboQAbu Dhabi QLondonQDublin

The whole team assembled at Sri Lankan Cricket headquarters in Colombo on 2 May for official photographs and religious
ceremonies before departure from Bandaranayake
International Airport
later that afternoon.Players flew on from London,
arriving in Dublin
on 3 May.The tour started in Ireland with the first ODI in Dublin on 6 May.

Three players (Upul Tharanga, Dammika Prasad and Niroshan
Dickwella) were unable to obtain visas for UK
so travelled on 3 May, via Abu Dhabi, directly to Dublin where they joined their team mates.
Shaminda Eranga, a late replacement for Perera, left Colombo on Sunday 4 May.

The team flew out of Dublin
on Friday 9 May.Five senior players -
Dilshan, Herath, Jayawardene, Malinga and Sangakkara - were not included for
the ODIs against Ireland,
and flew to England
separately. Sangakkara joined the squad in time for the second county game
after playing for Durham
and in Malinga’s case playing in the IPL.

Time spent in Ireland
and England

53 days

(3 May – 25 June 2014)

On-tour
selection panel

unknown

Reinforcements

Jayawardene
and Sangakkara played in warm-up matches though not members of the T20 squad.Dhammika
Prasad was called up for the one-day squad after an emergency selection meeting.

Suranga Lakmalsustained a hamstring
pull in the first ODI and was withdrawn from the tour.On 25 May Rangana Herath was added to the one-day squad.

K D K Vithanage

23

LHB

IreT20

Kithruwan Vithanage replaced wicket-keeper/batsman
Prasanna Jayawardenewho had to go home after the first Test because
of breaking a finger.

Fixtures/Results

a

§Dublin

Ireland(1st ODI)

Won79 r

b

§Dublin

Ireland(2nd ODI)

Abandoned

c

ϯChelmsford

Essex(50 overs)

Lost 22 r

d

ϯCanterbury

Kent(50 overs)

Won 128 r

e

ϯHove

Sussex(20 overs)

Won 10 w

f

⊕ Kennington Oval

England(T20)

Won 9 r

g

§Kennington Oval

England (1st
ODI)

Lost 81 r

h

§Chester-le-Street

England (2nd
ODI)

Won 157 r

i

§Old Trafford

England (3rd
ODI)

Lost 10 w

j

§Lord’s

England (4th
ODI)

Won 7 r

k

§Edgbaston

England (5th
ODI)

Won 6 w

l

Northampton

Northamptonshire

Drawn

m

LORD’S

ENGLANDFirst Test

DRAWN

n

HEADINGLEY

ENGLANDSecond Test

WON
100 r

† not first-class

§one-day international(RSA Insurance series in Ireland; Royal London ODI series in England)

•Kumar Sangakkara (144) and Angelo Mathews
(102) each scored a century in the Lord’s Test

•Angelo Mathews scored his 2nd century of the
series, 160 at Headingley, including 149 in partnership with Herath

•Prasad, a late addition to the Sri Lankan
side, took 5-50 in England’s
2nd innings to help win the second Test

•Eranga captured 11 wickets in the Test
matches and was Sri Lanka’s
most consistent bowler.

Tour
Summary

F

W

L

D

Aban

Test Matches

2

1

0

1

-

Other first-class matches

1

0

0

1

-

ϯ Minor matches

3

2

1

0

-

§ One-day internationals

7

4

2

0

1

⊕ T/20 internationals

1

1

0

0

-

All Matches

14

8

3

2

1

FFixturesWWonL LostD DrawnT TiedCanc CancelledAbanabandoned

Return to
Sri Lanka

LondonQColombo

Upul Tharanga, Dammika Prasad and Niroshan Dickwella flew
back to Sri Lanka from Dublin on 9 May.
However, Prasad was then sent back to reinforce the one-day squad.

Prasanna Jayawardenewent home after the first Test because of
breaking a finger.

The victorious Test team
departed by a Sri Lankan Airlines Airbus from Heathrow
Airport, London,
on 25 June arriving in Bandaranaike
International Airport
at 08.20 next morning.

Time away from Sri
Lanka

55 days

(2 May to 26 June)

Postscript

Shortly after arriving home, the Sri Lankans learned that their
long-serving baggage-master and unofficial fielding assistant, P D Nimal, was
killed in a road traffic accident. He had been with the team for 15 years.